Effects of a Web-Based Patient Portal on Patient Satisfaction and Missed Appointment Rates: Survey Study

Background Although electronic medical record (EMR)-tethered patient portals are common in other countries, they are still emerging in Canada. Objective We aimed to report user satisfaction and the effects of a patient portal on medical appointment attendance in a Canadian cohort of patients within our publicly funded health care system. Methods Two surveys were deployed, via email, at 2 weeks and 6 months following the first recorded patient portal access. Database audits of visit attendance were used to supplement and cross reference survey data. Results Between January 2016 and July 2018, 4296 patients accessed the patient portal. During the study, 28% (957/3421) consented patient portal users responded to one or more semistructured electronic surveys. Of respondents, 93% (891/957) reported that the patient portal was easy to use, 51% (492/975) reported it saved time when scheduling an appointment, and 40% (382/957) reported that they had to repeat themselves less during appointments. Respondents reported patient portal–related changes in health system use, with 48% (462/957) reporting avoiding a clinic visit and 2.7% (26/957) avoiding an emergency department visit. Across 19,968 visits in clinics where the patient portal was introduced, missed appointments were recorded in 9.5% (858/9021) of non–patient portal user visits, compared with 4.5% (493/9021) for patient portal users, representing a 53% relative reduction in no-show rates. Conclusions Early experience with an EMR-tethered patient portal showed strong reports of positive patient experience, a self-reported decrease in health system use, and a measured decrease in missed appointment rates. Implications on the expanded use of patient portals requires more quantitative and qualitative study in Canada.

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Effects of a Web-Based Patient Portal on Patient Satisfaction and Missed Appointment Rates: Survey Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.17955 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Timothy A D Graham ◽

Samina Ali ◽

Melita Avdagovska ◽

Mark Ballermann

Keyword(s):

Health System ◽

User Satisfaction ◽

Clinic Visit ◽

Survey Study ◽

Relative Reduction ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Missed Appointments ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Appointment Attendance ◽

System Use

BACKGROUND Although electronic medical record (EMR)-tethered patient portals are common in other countries, they are still emerging in Canada. OBJECTIVE We aimed to report user satisfaction and the effects of a patient portal on medical appointment attendance in a Canadian cohort of patients within our publicly funded health care system. METHODS Two surveys were deployed, via email, at 2 weeks and 6 months following the first recorded patient portal access. Database audits of visit attendance were used to supplement and cross reference survey data. RESULTS Between January 2016 and July 2018, 4296 patients accessed the patient portal. During the study, 28% (957/3421) consented patient portal users responded to one or more semistructured electronic surveys. Of respondents, 93% (891/957) reported that the patient portal was easy to use, 51% (492/975) reported it saved time when scheduling an appointment, and 40% (382/957) reported that they had to repeat themselves less during appointments. Respondents reported patient portal–related changes in health system use, with 48% (462/957) reporting avoiding a clinic visit and 2.7% (26/957) avoiding an emergency department visit. Across 19,968 visits in clinics where the patient portal was introduced, missed appointments were recorded in 9.5% (858/9021) of non–patient portal user visits, compared with 4.5% (493/9021) for patient portal users, representing a 53% relative reduction in no-show rates. CONCLUSIONS Early experience with an EMR-tethered patient portal showed strong reports of positive patient experience, a self-reported decrease in health system use, and a measured decrease in missed appointment rates. Implications on the expanded use of patient portals requires more quantitative and qualitative study in Canada.

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Patient Portal Barriers and Group Differences: Cross-Sectional National Survey Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.18870 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kea Turner ◽

Alecia Clary ◽

Young-Rock Hong ◽

Amir Alishahi Tabriz ◽

Christopher M Shea

Keyword(s):

Patient Characteristics ◽

Survey Study ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Multiple Variable ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

National Trends

BACKGROUND Past studies examining barriers to patient portal adoption have been conducted with a small number of patients and health care settings, limiting generalizability. OBJECTIVE This study had the following two objectives: (1) to assess the prevalence of barriers to patient portal adoption among nonadopters and (2) to examine the association between nonadopter characteristics and reported barriers in a nationally representative sample. METHODS Data from this study were obtained from the 2019 Health Information National Trends Survey. We calculated descriptive statistics to determine the most prevalent barriers and conducted multiple variable logistic regression analysis to examine which characteristics were associated with the reported barriers. RESULTS The sample included 4815 individuals. Among these, 2828 individuals (58.73%) had not adopted a patient portal. Among the nonadopters (n=2828), the most prevalent barriers were patient preference for in-person communication (1810/2828, 64.00%), no perceived need for the patient portal (1385/2828, 48.97%), and lack of comfort and experience with computers (735/2828, 25.99%). Less commonly, individuals reported having no patient portal (650/2828, 22.98%), no internet access (650/2828, 22.98%), privacy concerns (594/2828, 21.00%), difficulty logging on (537/2828, 18.99%), and multiple patient portals (255/2828, 9.02%) as barriers. Men had significantly lower odds of indicating a preference for speaking directly to a provider compared with women (odds ratio [OR] 0.75, 95% CI 0.60-0.94; P=.01). Older age (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.02; P<.001), having a chronic condition (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.44-2.33; P<.001), and having an income lower than US $20,000 (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.11-2.34; P=.01) were positively associated with indicating a preference for speaking directly to a provider. Hispanic individuals had significantly higher odds of indicating that they had no need for a patient portal (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.24-2.05; P<.001) compared with non-Hispanic individuals. Older individuals (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.04-1.06; P<.001), individuals with less than a high school diploma (OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.79-5.53; P<.001), and individuals with a household income of less than US $20,000 (OR 2.78, 95% CI 1.88-4.11; P<.001) had significantly higher odds of indicating that they were uncomfortable with a computer. CONCLUSIONS The most common barriers to patient portal adoption are preference for in-person communication, not having a need for the patient portal, and feeling uncomfortable with computers, which are barriers that are modifiable and can be intervened upon. Patient characteristics can help predict which patients are most likely to experience certain barriers to patient portal adoption. Further research is needed to tailor implementation approaches based on patients’ needs and preferences.

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Building primary healthcare personnels’ support for a patient portal while alleviating eHealth-related stress: Survey study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.28976 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Iiris Hörhammer ◽

Sari Kujala ◽

Pirjo Hilama ◽

Tarja Heponiemi

Keyword(s):

Primary Healthcare ◽

Sustainable Use ◽

Survey Study ◽

Healthcare Personnel ◽

Full Potential ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Implementation Practices ◽

Related Stress

BACKGROUND Healthcare personnel’s engagement in patient portal implementation is necessary in embedding the use of the portal in everyday practices of a healthcare organization. While portal implementation may raise personnel’s positive expectations of the benefits in patient care, it is often also stressful for them due to increased workloads and disruptions in clinical workflows. An understanding of social and technical factors that build personnel’s support for patient portal implementation and alleviate their eHealth-related stress is therefore needed to realize the full potential of portals. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to explore the influence of managerial implementation practices, information technology (IT) usability, and personnel’s eHealth competences on support for patient portal implementation and eHealth-related stress among primary healthcare personnel. METHODS The data were collected through a survey of 919 members of the personnel at two health organizations in Finland. Linear and logistic regression models were fitted to study the associations between the variables. RESULTS The adoption of appropriate implementation practices and usability of the technology can build personnel’s support for a patient portal and alleviate their stress. Personnel’s support is manifested in their promotion of the portal to patients. CONCLUSIONS Healthcare managers are encouraged to consider the good implementation practices as a prerequisite for meaningful and sustainable use of patient portals.

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Novel Interventions and Assessments Using Patient Portals in Adolescent Research: Confidential Survey Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.8340 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Lindsay A Thompson ◽

Rebeccah Mercado ◽

Thomas Martinko ◽

Ratna Acharya

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Intervention Group ◽

Office Visit ◽

Survey Study ◽

Control Group ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Parental Consent ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Communication Preferences

BACKGROUND While adolescents can receive confidential health care without parental or guardian notification, they are rarely asked about their experiences and opinions regarding their care because participation in research often requires parental consent. Anonymous research with adolescents via confidential patient portals may ameliorate this research gap. OBJECTIVE Because use of a confidential online adolescent patient portal is high at our academic institution, we hypothesized that adolescents would also respond to survey-based research via the portal, especially if asked anonymously and without parental consent. We used a clinical scenario of needing to better understanding adolescent and young adults’ views about their health and health care, including information on a long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) to test if and how they will use a portal for research. METHODS Upon receiving Institutional Review Board approval, we sent 2 portal-based surveys about confidential services to 2 groups of females, ages 14 to 25 years, who had attended an adolescent clinic in the past 3 years. This clinic mostly serves Medicaid recipients (80%) and is racially and ethnically diverse with half of patients identifying as African American and roughly 10% Hispanic. The control group was a random sample of female patients who never received a LARC (n=150) and the intervention group included all female adolescents who had received a LARC from the same clinic (n=107). This second sample was manually cross-checked to confirm they had an office visit for this reason. Consenting for themselves, the control group received an email through the patient portal with a link and a request to perform an assessment. The survey for the control group included items assessing health literacy and health communication preferences. The survey for the intervention group included health literacy items as well as items to assess their opinions and perceptions regarding LARCs. We tracked click-through rates and opened messages; each participant received 4 reminders. RESULTS While only 3 participants fully completed either survey, email read rates (29/107 [27.1%] of LARC recipients and 39/150 [26.0%] of controls) were encouraging. Additionally, of those who opened the messages, almost twice as many of the LARC recipients (10/107 [9.3%]) read through the entire survey, while less than half read the entire survey as compared to those who received the survey asking about health literacy and health care preferences (6/150 [4.0%]). CONCLUSIONS The methodology of using adolescent portals for online surveys provides a new avenue for research even though the study did not yield sufficient participation to understand these adolescents’ preferences. Future studies need to test if a different survey topic would engage adolescents or if other methods like text-based reminders would improve participation.

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Pharmacy Customers’ Experiences of Use, Usability, and Satisfaction of a Nationwide Patient Portal: Survey Study

Journal of Medical Internet Research ◽

10.2196/25368 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (7) ◽

pp. e25368

Author(s):

Maria Sääskilahti ◽

Riitta Ahonen ◽

Johanna Timonen

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Information ◽

Data Privacy ◽

Health Data ◽

Survey Study ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Data Systems ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Privacy And Security ◽

Chi Square

Background Patient portals have been introduced in several countries in the last few decades. Despite worldwide objectives of introducing patient portals, nationwide portals are rare, and studies about their use are limited. Finland is one of the forerunners in developing nationwide health data systems. A nationwide patient portal, My Kanta, for viewing electronic prescriptions and health data has been phased in, starting in 2010. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate what functions Finnish pharmacy customers use in My Kanta, their perceptions of the service’s usability, and how satisfied users are with My Kanta overall. Methods In spring 2019, questionnaires (N=2866) were distributed from 18 pharmacies of varying size across mainland Finland to adult pharmacy customers purchasing prescription medications for themselves or for their child under 18 years of age. Questions were asked about the use and usability of the patient portal by means of structured and Likert-scale questions. Statistical analyses included frequencies, means, medians, chi-square tests, Fisher exact tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results In total, 994 completed questionnaires of 2866 delivered questionnaires (34.68%) were returned. The most-used My Kanta functions were browsing prescription information (781/802, 97.4%), records of health care visits (772/802, 96.3%), and results of laboratory tests and x-ray examinations (722/804, 89.8%). Most users (558/793, 70.4%) had also requested a prescription renewal using the service. My Kanta was perceived as easy to log into (772/816, 94.6%) and clear to view (709/808, 87.7%). Most users considered the service useful for monitoring their health information (753/813, 92.6%) and felt that it provides a good overall picture of the medications prescribed to them (711/813, 87.5%). The majority of users found the information recorded about them easy to understand (684/800, 85.5%). Of the users, 16.7% (135/807) disagreed with the statement that the information they were looking for was easy to find. Approximately two-thirds (501/814, 61.5%) of users did not know whether it is easy to view in which pharmacies and health care units their prescription information has been viewed, and over one-third (306/805, 38.0%) did not know whether it is easy to view in which health care units their health information has been processed. Approximately one-fifth of participants (181/805, 22.5%) feared that unauthorized persons might view their information and that their electronically saved prescription and health information might disappear (180/810, 22.2%). In addition, 16.1% (129/799) expressed interest in receiving guidance on My Kanta use. The vast majority of users (719/804, 89.4%) were satisfied with the service overall. Conclusions Pharmacy customers were satisfied with the nationwide patient portal. It was mostly used for browsing e-prescriptions and medical records. Overall, the usability of the service was good. However, users need to be better informed about data privacy and security issues, and guidance on using the portal needs to be improved.

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Recruitment of trial participants through electronic medical record patient portal messaging: A pilot study

Clinical Trials ◽

10.1177/1740774519873657 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 30-38 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Timothy B Plante ◽

Kelly T Gleason ◽

Hailey N Miller ◽

Jeanne Charleston ◽

Kristen McArthur ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Vitamin D ◽

Health System ◽

Medical Record ◽

Electronic Medical Record ◽

Response Rate ◽

Controlled Trial ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Message Content ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Trial Participants

Background/aim: Cost-efficient methods are essential for successful participant recruitment in clinical trials. Patient portal messages are an emerging means of recruiting potentially eligible patients into trials. We assessed the response rate and complaint rate from direct-to-patient, targeted recruitment through patient portals of an electronic medical record for a clinical trial, and compared response rates by differences in message content. Methods: The Study to Understand Fall Reduction and Vitamin D in You (STURDY) trial is a National Institutes of Health–sponsored, community-based study of vitamin D supplementation for fall prevention in older adults conducted at Johns Hopkins. Potential participants were identified using the Epic electronic medical record at the Johns Hopkins Health System based on age (≥70 years), ZIP code (30-mile radius of study site), and prior activation of a patient portal account. We prepared a shorter message and a longer message. Both had basic information about study participation, but the longer message also contained information about the significance of the study and a personal invitation from the STURDY principal investigator. The Hopkins Institutional Review Board did not require prior consent from the patient or their providers. We calculated the response rate and tracked the number of complaints and requests for removal from future messages. We also determined response rate according to message content. Results: Of the 5.5 million individuals receiving care at the Johns Hopkins Health System, a sample of 6896 met our inclusion criteria and were sent one patient portal recruitment message between 6 April 2017 and 3 August 2017. Assessment of enrollment by this method ended on 1 December 2017. There were 116 patients who expressed interest in the study (response rate: 1.7%). Twelve (0.2%) recipients were randomized. There were two complaints (0.03%) and one request to unsubscribe from future recruitment messages (0.01%). Response rate was higher with the longer message than the shorter message (2.1% vs 1.2%; p = 0.005). Conclusion: Patient portal messages inviting seniors to participate in a randomized controlled trial resulted in a response rate similar to commercial email marketing and resulted in very few complaints or opt-out requests. Furthermore, a longer message with more content enhanced response rate. Recruitment through patient portals might be an effective strategy to enroll trial participants.

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Patient Portal Barriers and Group Differences: Cross-Sectional National Survey Study

Journal of Medical Internet Research ◽

10.2196/18870 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 22 (9) ◽

pp. e18870

Author(s):

Kea Turner ◽

Alecia Clary ◽

Young-Rock Hong ◽

Amir Alishahi Tabriz ◽

Christopher M Shea

Keyword(s):

Patient Characteristics ◽

Survey Study ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Older Individuals ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Number Of Patients ◽

Multiple Variable ◽

Nationally Representative ◽

National Trends

Background Past studies examining barriers to patient portal adoption have been conducted with a small number of patients and health care settings, limiting generalizability. Objective This study had the following two objectives: (1) to assess the prevalence of barriers to patient portal adoption among nonadopters and (2) to examine the association between nonadopter characteristics and reported barriers in a nationally representative sample. Methods Data from this study were obtained from the 2019 Health Information National Trends Survey. We calculated descriptive statistics to determine the most prevalent barriers and conducted multiple variable logistic regression analysis to examine which characteristics were associated with the reported barriers. Results The sample included 4815 individuals. Among these, 2828 individuals (58.73%) had not adopted a patient portal. Among the nonadopters (n=2828), the most prevalent barriers were patient preference for in-person communication (1810/2828, 64.00%), no perceived need for the patient portal (1385/2828, 48.97%), and lack of comfort and experience with computers (735/2828, 25.99%). Less commonly, individuals reported having no patient portal (650/2828, 22.98%), no internet access (650/2828, 22.98%), privacy concerns (594/2828, 21.00%), difficulty logging on (537/2828, 18.99%), and multiple patient portals (255/2828, 9.02%) as barriers. Men had significantly lower odds of indicating a preference for speaking directly to a provider compared with women (odds ratio [OR] 0.75, 95% CI 0.60-0.94; P=.01). Older age (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00-1.02; P<.001), having a chronic condition (OR 1.83, 95% CI 1.44-2.33; P<.001), and having an income lower than US $20,000 (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.11-2.34; P=.01) were positively associated with indicating a preference for speaking directly to a provider. Hispanic individuals had significantly higher odds of indicating that they had no need for a patient portal (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.24-2.05; P<.001) compared with non-Hispanic individuals. Older individuals (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.04-1.06; P<.001), individuals with less than a high school diploma (OR 3.15, 95% CI 1.79-5.53; P<.001), and individuals with a household income of less than US $20,000 (OR 2.78, 95% CI 1.88-4.11; P<.001) had significantly higher odds of indicating that they were uncomfortable with a computer. Conclusions The most common barriers to patient portal adoption are preference for in-person communication, not having a need for the patient portal, and feeling uncomfortable with computers, which are barriers that are modifiable and can be intervened upon. Patient characteristics can help predict which patients are most likely to experience certain barriers to patient portal adoption. Further research is needed to tailor implementation approaches based on patients’ needs and preferences.

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Engaging patients through an iBooks-based patient portal tutorial

BMJ Innovations ◽

10.1136/bmjinnov-2016-000140 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 152-156 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Heather Leisy ◽

Meleha Ahmad ◽

Gabriella Guevara ◽

Roland Theodore Smith

Keyword(s):

Personal Health Record ◽

Clinic Visit ◽

Personal Health Records ◽

Personal Health ◽

Health Record ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Health Records ◽

Administrative Costs ◽

Comfort Levels

IntroductionPatient portals or personal health records allow patients to access their health information and communicate with their physician’s office outside of their clinic visit. As such, their use has been observed to increase patient engagement and decrease administrative costs. Despite these advantages, patient adoption and successful use of patient portals remains low. Here we assess the feasibility and efficacy of an iBooks-based tutorial in increasing comfort and compliance with personal health record use.MethodsWe created and published a 5-min iBooks-based tutorial describing our institution’s patient portal features. We administered the tutorial, along with presurvey and postsurvey, to ophthalmology clinic patients.ResultsOf 70 participants, 50% had already registered for our institution’s patient portal. Registered patients had viewed labs (74%, n=26) and messaged providers (57%, n=20) but rarely used other features such as scheduling appointments (17%, n=6) or requesting refills (26%, n=9). After the tutorial, comfort levels in knowledge on how to use portal features increased by 20%–80%, depending on portal feature and registration status. Main barriers to portal usage were preference for telephone-based communication (26%, n=18) and knowledge of portal existence (21%, n=15). The majority (86%, n=60) agreed the tutorial would increase their utilisation of the patient portal.ConclusionTutorials increase knowledge and awareness of patient portal features, allowing these features to be fully used. An iBooks-based approach allows patients to successfully access and use tutorial content outside of the clinic.

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Shared Access to Patient Portals and Digital Health Equity (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.34628 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jennifer Wolff ◽

Vadim Dukhanin ◽

Julia Burgdorf ◽

Cait DesRoches

Keyword(s):

Health System ◽

Health Equity ◽

Care Delivery ◽

Digital Health ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Information Transparency ◽

Care Partners ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Role Based

UNSTRUCTURED Growing reliance on the patient portal as a mainstream modality in health system interactions necessitates prioritizing digital health equity through systems-level strategies that acknowledge and support all persons. Older adults with physical, cognitive, sensory, and socio-economic vulnerabilities often rely on the involvement of family and friend care partners when navigating health system demands, but their role in health information technology is largely undefined and poorly understood. This perspective discusses challenges and opportunities of systematic engagement of care partners through shared access to the patient portal that have been amplified in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and recent implementation of federal information blocking rules that promote information transparency. We describe implementation considerations, and the promise of granular, role-based privacy controls in addressing the nuanced and dynamic nature of individual information sharing preferences and fostering person- and family-centered care delivery.

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Pharmacy Customers’ Experiences of Use, Usability, and Satisfaction of a Nationwide Patient Portal: Survey Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.25368 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Maria Sääskilahti ◽

Riitta Ahonen ◽

Johanna Timonen

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Information ◽

Data Privacy ◽

Health Data ◽

Survey Study ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Data Systems ◽

Patient Portals ◽

Privacy And Security ◽

Chi Square

BACKGROUND Patient portals have been introduced in several countries in the last few decades. Despite worldwide objectives of introducing patient portals, nationwide portals are rare, and studies about their use are limited. Finland is one of the forerunners in developing nationwide health data systems. A nationwide patient portal, My Kanta, for viewing electronic prescriptions and health data has been phased in, starting in 2010. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate what functions Finnish pharmacy customers use in My Kanta, their perceptions of the service’s usability, and how satisfied users are with My Kanta overall. METHODS In spring 2019, questionnaires (N=2866) were distributed from 18 pharmacies of varying size across mainland Finland to adult pharmacy customers purchasing prescription medications for themselves or for their child under 18 years of age. Questions were asked about the use and usability of the patient portal by means of structured and Likert-scale questions. Statistical analyses included frequencies, means, medians, chi-square tests, Fisher exact tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS In total, 994 completed questionnaires of 2866 delivered questionnaires (34.68%) were returned. The most-used My Kanta functions were browsing prescription information (781/802, 97.4%), records of health care visits (772/802, 96.3%), and results of laboratory tests and x-ray examinations (722/804, 89.8%). Most users (558/793, 70.4%) had also requested a prescription renewal using the service. My Kanta was perceived as easy to log into (772/816, 94.6%) and clear to view (709/808, 87.7%). Most users considered the service useful for monitoring their health information (753/813, 92.6%) and felt that it provides a good overall picture of the medications prescribed to them (711/813, 87.5%). The majority of users found the information recorded about them easy to understand (684/800, 85.5%). Of the users, 16.7% (135/807) disagreed with the statement that the information they were looking for was easy to find. Approximately two-thirds (501/814, 61.5%) of users did not know whether it is easy to view in which pharmacies and health care units their prescription information has been viewed, and over one-third (306/805, 38.0%) did not know whether it is easy to view in which health care units their health information has been processed. Approximately one-fifth of participants (181/805, 22.5%) feared that unauthorized persons might view their information and that their electronically saved prescription and health information might disappear (180/810, 22.2%). In addition, 16.1% (129/799) expressed interest in receiving guidance on My Kanta use. The vast majority of users (719/804, 89.4%) were satisfied with the service overall. CONCLUSIONS Pharmacy customers were satisfied with the nationwide patient portal. It was mostly used for browsing e-prescriptions and medical records. Overall, the usability of the service was good. However, users need to be better informed about data privacy and security issues, and guidance on using the portal needs to be improved.

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